WMGS Sites

About

The Western Michigan* Genealogical Society (www.wmgs.org) was founded in 1954 with the purpose of preserving and making available for genealogical research the records of our ancestors; encouraging and assisting members in genealogical research; promoting the exchange of knowledge and encouraging the deposit of genealogical records in established libraries and archives.

*Includes Kent County and the counties immediately surrounding; namely Ottawa, Muskegon, Newaygo, Montcalm, Ionia, Barry and Allegan Counties. There is some extension beyond these counties into other areas of the Western Lower Peninsula.

Browsing Posts in Military

A few years ago, I took an online course at Cornerstone University entitled “The Civil War.” I own quite a few books about the “War of the Rebellion” and I wasn’t looking for a rehash of the usual – military strategies, battle tactics, and hero generals on which many of those books focus. The reading selections […]

I attended the National Archives’ Genealogy Fair today. Do you think the National Archives only has veteran pension files, immigration records and census records? You need to keep reading. Today’s presentation titled The Best National Archives Records Genealogists Aren’t Using showed many examples of other records that the Archives holds like relinquished, rejected or canceled […]

As a followup to my last post about the mistaken newspaper publication of one relative’s death in California, I want to address the larger problem of misinformation all too commonly found in online family trees. I’ve grown to expect errors in online family trees. Although I am careful to published only verified information on my […]

The Flat River Community Library in Greenville, Michigan in Montcalm County has their digitized collections available online. Kelly Worden, Local History and Reference Assistant at the library explains they include text-searchable newspapers of the Greenville/Montcalm County area from 1857-1923 and various vital record indexes from Montcalm County. Convenient links to these resources are now available […]

As genealogists, we have all had that ‘a-ha!’ moment and regularly ask the genie spirits to provide another one. A couple of weeks ago I was able to share someone else’s, based on my past experience. I’m one of the Tuesday volunteer help group at the downtown Grand Rapids Public Library and it is particularly […]

We greatly enjoyed having Tony Burroughs as the speaker for our 2011 Got Ancestors?! Genealogy in Black & White and Blue & Gray seminar. I met Tony again at the recent FGS 2013 conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana and he mentioned to me a new project he’s been working on. This project is to try and identify […]

West Michigan Junes are wonderful. There are many things to do and the weather generally cooperates. As genealogists, we need to take advantage of the summertime weather and longer daylight hours and do some outdoor activities – like cemetery trips, family reunions, and vacation/research trips to areas where our ancestors lived. Genealogically speaking, I hope […]

What do you do when you can’t find an obituary for someone important in your family line? One of my 2nd-great grandmothers lived in small communities all across northern Michigan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The family worked in the woods, moving from town to town following the lumber companies. I haven’t […]